Often loud and unconventionally structured, the “hyperpop” music of ‘Brat’ captures the artistic perspective of those championing free market values in the tech sector. Harnessing the capabilities of digital instruments and software to create unique new sounds, XCX’s music embraces technology. While other artists eschew dance music, opting for stripped-back acoustic sound (see Taylor Swift’s ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’), Cook’s PC music artists—including Hannah Diamond and Tommy Cash—build original sounds inspired by decades of electronic music.

Charli XCX began her career in the rave scene as a young teenager, accompanied (of course) by her parents. The British singer later emerged as a rising pop artist with the 2014 hits ‘Boom Clap’ and Iggy Azalea’s ‘Fancy’, receiving broader attention in the United States and Australia. But XCX sought to distinguish herself among other young stars by developing her unique sound. She turned to SOPHIE, who helped to produce the career-defining ‘Vroom Vroom’ EP that renavigated the Billboard-charting pop star back to niche club audiences.

The proceeding records and mixtapes from 2016 to 2022, including ‘Number 1 Angel’, ‘Pop 2’, ‘Charli’, ‘How I’m Feeling Now’ and ‘Crash’, cemented XCX’s reputation for creating fun, authentic hyperpop music. Songs like ‘Track 10’—which she later reimagined as ‘Blame It On Your Love’ featuring Lizzo—built a distinctively emotional sound for electronic music. With perfect harmonized vocals quickly contrasted with heavily distorted beats, the British singer distinguished herself in the industry and inspired others.

Her influence can be seen across the music scene, from the remix album ‘Dawn of Chromatica’ for Lady Gaga’s sixth studio album ‘Chromatica’ to AG Cook’s production on Troye Sivan’s track ‘How to Stay with You’. Furthermore, the songwriter’s experimental style embodies the goals of a broader movement for human progress and innovation: techno-optimism. Built on the idea that new technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI) voices and virtual instruments, can empower humanity’s growth and flourishing, techno-optimism embraces the artistic contributions of hyperpop, AI-generated imagery and more.

Although many fear AI and other new technology could replace human creative expression and pose serious challenges to intellectual property rights and attribution, techno-optimism recognizes this development will only supplement the experiences and ideas of the human mind. Largely a niche mindset of developers and entrepreneurs on social media, the values of human progress and development run strong through the beat drops of AG Cook or Charli XCX. By all accounts, their “hyperpop” exemplifies a more subliminal political attitude shift that may be brewing among diverse, youthful audiences.

Both technologists seeking to inspire broader audiences to oppose new regulations of the online world and heavy industry developers alike should draw on the cultural influence of voices like XCX. With deeper credibility among Gen Z listeners, “hyperpop” artists and other tech-forward communities could expand the brand of techno-optimism and future-builders. Silicon Valley, Miami and beyond, meet your new head DJ: Charli XCX. It’s obvious she’s your #1.

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Energized by electro pop instrumentals, Sivan’s self-exploratory lyrics particularly resonate with Gen Z as he articulates the generation’s conscious desire for cultural authenticity and courage. In a historic moment defined by virtual communication, isolation, and polarizing opinion, Troye Sivan captivates Gen Z listeners with songs about finding human connection through experimentation and authenticity.

Written as an ode to partying and human interaction amid COVID-19 lockdowns, the album voices a generation’s yearning for something greater than pre-pandemic “normalcy.” Rather, Sivan seeks a world with less judgment of individual expression and more self-exploration through interpersonal relationships. Quitting family-friendly pop, the singer discusses socially contentious themes of sexuality and casual romance in the aftermath of a breakup.

According to The Atlantic, Americans today spend more time alone than prior generations. Social isolation of lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 saw massive increases in depression and other serious mental health concerns, especially for young people. Troye Sivan’s lyrics in ‘Something To Give Each Other’ convey the feelings of angst and physical emptiness shared by millions.

With the dynamic opener ‘Rush’, Troye throws himself back into the social scene of clubs and concerts, becoming a “libertine pop hero” over a nod to a recreational drug brand. Marked by the cultural phenomenon of its music video, the lead single scratches the itch of Gen Z’s COVID era yearning for socialization and physical touch. This thirst for intimacy continues into ‘What’s the Time Where You Are?’, a mid-tempo track about long-distance and online dating, experiences increasingly common among young people. Unafraid to tell it like it is, Sivan’s music sympathizes with the difficulties of this new romantic terrain while not shaming openness or promiscuity.

After introducing listeners to his less inhibited reality, the record’s third single, ‘One of Your Girls’, dives into Sivan’s interactions with uncertain straight men. Abandoning gender norms, Troye allows himself to be “one of your girls or your homies,” overcoming today’s struggles with gender, sexuality, and identity politics. Visualized in the shocking music video with former Disney star Ross Lynch, the pop star bucks our label-craving culture to build a 21st-century relationship focused on love over expectations and conformity.

On the tracks ‘Still Got It’ and ‘Can’t Go Back, Baby’ Sivan expresses sentiments shared by many as society “returns to normal.” While ‘Still Got It’ glances back at a past relationship, ‘Can’t Go Back, Baby’ bravely trudges forward as the singer admits, “I wish I could, but I can’t go.” Acknowledging the loneliness of freedom, Sivan offers an impossible wish: to go home to the life he knew before. In a pre-release interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, the singer described how “freedom can be lonely” despite his pursuit of a lifestyle of “erratic freedom.”

A case study in Gen Z and millennial lifestyles, Troye’s lyrics and interview commentary describe the push-and-pull of our globalized pop culture, frequent travel or study afar, and widespread social media use. Bouncing back from the isolation and slowness of pandemic lockdowns, Sivan jolts to life in ‘Got Me Started’ with a memorable sample from Bag Raiders ‘Shooting Stars.’ As the singer finds his footing in romance and life again, the track shares an interest in experimentation and honest communication.

‘Silly’ admits that Troye is a “love junkie” still trying to move on from his past relationship. Yet, the pop star contrasts this omission with the line “Don’t need anybody here to console me” showing an internal struggle with independence. Rejoicing his restored confidence and contentment, ‘Honey’ reverberates with a triumphant synth beat. Sivan describes the line “I see love in every space / I see sex in every city, every town” as the mission statement of the album on Spotify. In a culture so fragmented, ‘Honey’ unites listeners by recognizing shared sexual connections across cities and spaces. Finding his voice (or, as the song more explicitly states, “the courage to say all the shit I mean”), the Australian artist fully overcomes his youthful anxiety.

Finally, ‘How to Stay with You’ offers an open ending to the album with saxophone backing to top it off. Letting himself start anew, the album closes on a high note and inspires listeners to do the same. As Sivan described in an interview with NPR Music, ‘Something To Give Each Other’ highlights the value that people have to offer one another, whether in long-term commitments or brief happiness.

Embodying a social libertarian attitude, Sivan offers a path forward amid tense social and political division. As he repeats on three different tracks, we all have “something to give each other,” and we need to share that “something” without fear of moral judgment or cancellation, to overcome what perils our culture. In a world terminally online, with everything politicized down to our food choices, his art offers escape. Plug in your headphones, turn on ‘Something To Give Each Other’, and enjoy a half hour of synthpop delight.

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I think I’ve seen this film before. In the early 2010s, suburban parents vigilantly tracked their kids’ internet usage and history. Simultaneously, school librarians warned against social media “misinformation” while promoting their preferred thought leaders from major outlets. Assistant principals reinforced the belief in cancel culture with bizarre presentations on how “the internet lives forever” and that students’ social lives should proceed as walking on eggshells. Two decades earlier, policymakers warned that nuclear energy would pose an outstanding risk to public safety and insisted ethanol would become the savior to America’s energy crisis. This followed with questions about regulating graphic video games and more as the digital world expanded. We all know how this story goes.

As artificial intelligence begins to offer life-changing benefits for ordinary people in the workplace and academia, the outrage machine insists that the world is worse than it was before. A culture of pessimism pervades our outlook on cutting-edge developments that could vastly improve our daily lives and function. But before allowing entrepreneurs to create new job opportunities and better everyday life for all of us, activists and their allies seek regulation. Here we go again.

We should not forget that today’s Americans live longer, healthier and more prosperous lives than any generation before them. We cannot ignore the international social connections and economic exchange enabled by the internet. And we should not abandon optimism of how AI could grow small businesses, reduce average work hours, and even cure life-threatening disease.

The same ideologies that espoused “decolonization” or “defund the police”—frightening dystopias, as we now acknowledge—promote government-enforced social justice as the best device to solve problems online. However, this is simply not true. Additional regulations and the cultural impact of quasi-nonprofits do not resolve human division and discrimination. Americans cannot allow for an vocal minority of performativity to cloud the AI advancements our modern society requires.

The free market can sort out ethical AI. Just as private enterprise truly leads the way on clean energy, environmentally-conscious infrastructure, affordable medicine, and new housing development, businesses can address human bias, inaccurate information and other harmful uses of AI. The first step requires keeping politics out of innovation. Next, hopeful entrepreneurs and seasoned professionals must dive in head first to the world of AI.

All signs show they will rise to the occasion. From Zuckerberg and Musk to BCG and McKinsey, outspoken business voices are getting ahead of the curb on AI. Free markets resolve issues on their own. Capitalism responds to people’s demands. When it comes to AI, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

AI policymaking should enable self-expression and original thought. State and federal government needs to strengthen intellectual property rights and protect against monopolization. Companies should lead the way on AI-produced watermarks and educational plagiarism detection software. Activist groups, often led by students with no coding credentials or governing experience, can continue offering concerns for the companies to solve. Otherwise, tech innovation is not the arena for academia word salads, political safe spaces, and ideological purity tests.

Americans live in their comfort zone with technology. Today, even parents reshare TikToks and Instagram Reels with each other. The era of novelty seen in the early 2000s and 2010s ended, now only to start again with AI. But our worst fears cannot take control and stifle progress. Technological transformation can improve our world. AI will solve the Riemann hypothesis and improve corporate efficiency.

The future awaits us if we allow the market to run its course. Politicians on the right and left need to denounce attempts at bureaucratizing AI with ideological frameworks. While the Internet can certainly no longer be the Wild West, our next generation must move forward unafraid of the challenges that might emerge in the development and spread of AI technology. Like the leaders before us, healthy balances between digital freedoms and safety can be found. If only we let businesses find them.

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